Elevator safety device



Jan. 29 1924.

C. H. MILLER ELEVATOR SAFETY DEVICE File ril 1922 2 Sheis-Shee't' 1 J\ 1% a 7 o \5 v I 5 w V kw: C 5 .3 3 M 7 w a z 1,481,871 C. H. MILLER ELEVATOR SAFETY DEVICE Jan. 29, 1924.

Filed April 8. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 29, 19241.

UNITE PATENT cries,

CHARLES H. MILLER, or LINEVILLE, Iowa.

ELEVATOR SAFETY DEVICE Application filed April 8,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES'I'I. MILL-1m, a citizen of the United States, residing in Lineville, in the county of vV-ayneand State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator SafetyDevices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to elevators, and

more especially to car brakes and catches,

door controlled.

Its objects are several,to wit: First to lock every shaft door closedv except that opposite the car; second, to' lock the car against movement While any door is open; third, to coordinate the first two objects; and fourth, to adapt the invention to various shafts, elevators, doors, and latches.

The invention consists first, in means at each landing for locking the door-latch (and therefore the door) against being opened save when the car is opposite this landing; second, in an obstruction in the well or shaft for locking the car against movement in either direction and holding it at any landing while that door is open; third, in a cam in the shaft engaged by the car when opposite a landing to release the lock 7 for the door-latch; fourth, in means on the door whereby its closing releases the carlock; and fifth,in the details of construction whereby the several parts are adaptable to a variety of cases.

The elevator well may be but a hole, sul stantially vertical, passing a plurality of stations; doubtless it will have guides for the car, and probably it w ill be a shaft more or less housed in, espec ally at the" floors or landings. Here will occur doors or gates, swinging or sliding, to right or to left; and each will have one or more latches engaging appropriate keepers to hold -it closed, and a latch-bar accessible from in side or outside the shaft so that the opera' tor can unlatch such door. The elevator may be a mere platform, a. car, or a more elaborate cage; it may itself have a door,

although that is not to be consideredherein;

and its structure, size, motive power, and controls are lmmaterlal tothe invention.

With the above understanding of' the terminology to be employed in the following specificatwn and claims, it is clear that the drawingsneed not elaborate details -which 1922. Serial No. 550,601.

' are unessential. Referring to the accompanying sheets Fig. 1 IS a perspective'view from within the shaft with the car absent and the door 'closed at a landing, showing how its latchbar is locked.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 22 of Fig. 1 showing how the closing of the door automatically throws the car-lock out of action. r Fig. 3 is an elevation, viewed in the direction of the arrow 3 of-Fig. 1, the dot-anddash lines indicating the car platform at the landing and a block on such platform which releases the latch-lock. The door is here partly opened, and it has released the car-lockwhich now engages said block.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line f4i of F ig. 3, taken just above the floor level.

At each landing or floor F the elevator shaft or well may be enclosed by a wall W secured to corner'guides G. In this wall is an opening closed by a door D and possibly having its door casing Call as best seen I in Fig. 2. The elevator is herein shown as a mere platform E, which in Fig. 3"stands opposite the landing at the floor F, and for purposes of illustration this platform is shown as having an elementsuch'as a 'corner block '1 which moves up and down" on the guide G. If. the elevator were a car or cage, its corner post might serve "as such element.

Each door may slide or swing; if the former, it moves as indicated by the double arrow 5; if the latter, its freeedge moves on the are 6 in the casing C or between them; and a second latch is indicated at 12'. It willbe understood that several such latches maybe used if desired, to: hold the door securely closed and preserve the continuity of the shaft wall, and that latches of different type may vertically in suitable guides on be employed, especially if the door swings rather than slides. The lower end of the 7 bar 11 is shown as deflected inward as at 15,

} stood.

and then carried down and hooked outward as at 16 above the floor F. This. illustration and description applies to one form of latch and its bar, although I do not wish to be limited thereto; it is essential that the bar 11 be lifted to release the latch, and openings in the door and handholds 17 on the bar may be provided so that it may be raised by an operator within the shaft or upon the floor. Manifestly, it some element stood over the hook 16, it would lock the bar against rise, prevent disengagement of'the latch from its keeper and theretore hold the door locked.

iiinged within a 'r J'CSS 20 which is cut in the inner face of the guide (i above and be: low the lin of the floor. is a cam plate 2-1 swung i'iormally outward into the well or shaft by a spring 22 but adapted to be pressed back out of active nosition and housed in said recess by the edge of the ele vator platform. or, in the present instance, by the block 1 as shown in Fig. 3. Projecting rigidly from its hinged edge is an upright lip 13 whose upper extremity 1s hooked toward the door as at 26. the drawings this lip is shown with another and similar hook 25 at its lower end, but when the cam is reversed as for use where the door closes in the opposite direction, this hook comes uppermost as will be under- The lip is made with both hooks to permit the cam element to be applied either way.) Vl Vhen the hook 26 passes over the hook 16, the latch-bar 11 is locked; when the car comes oppositethe platform, the cam plate is pressed into the recess 20, the hooks are disengaged, and the door may be manually unlatched and opened. Hingedly mounted within the same recess 20 is a car lock, here shown as comprising an upright shaft 31 having top and bottom right-angular lingers spaced so as to swing ever and under the block 1 and yet leave the car some litle latitude of move ment at the landing. It will be clear, however, that said fingers could be spaced so to swing above and below the corner posto't' an el vator ca 'e, which post in that case would become the elementherein referred to as block. A spring 83 throws these fingers normally outward into the well where they form an obstruction to the movement of the car, but they may be pressed back out of active position and housed in said recess. I find itvconveniont'to make-the shaft 31 a bearing for spaeed hingeeyes QTon the cam plate, and to mount the shaft itself in other eyes or bearings 37 in the recess, so that the cam plate and car look are concentrically pivoted or hinged while they move independently of eachother. Projecting rigidly from said shaft is an upright li 38 shorter than the lip 23 and spaced from its hooks 2-5 and 26 by the two hinge-eyes 27, and this lip 83 constitutes an inclined lever standing with in the notch 8 in the landing floor F and struck by the wear plate .7 on the door as the latter closes; this action therefore press es the fingers 32 into the recess 20, and the car is free to move up or down (The spring 33 is here shown in the form of a small helix attached at one end to the lever or lip 38 which ispierced with holes 89 for this purpose. and is led thence under the floor F and attached at its other end thereto' but an? )assen ers at the several landin s as the handholds 17 will be operated by the attendant only. Let us assume the manlift applied to domesticpurposes or used in a gram elevator. The car stands normally at the level of the lower floor, and all doors are closed and latched, the latch bar of the lower door only being unlocked because the car by its presence there depresses the cam plate. A would-be passenger approaches and unlatches and opens this door; immediately the U-shaped car lock swings inward, and the car is locked and cannot be moved until the door is again closed. He enters and closes the door after him, and the car-is unlocked; he now ascends to some other floor, and the cam plate swings in ward to lock the latch bar of the lower door so that no one can open it.

As the car passes each landing the block depresses the cam plate and throws the latch.

lock out of active position; reaching the floor desired, the passenger .unlat-chesand opens the door there (looking the car) and emerges The car cannot now more until this door is closed again, and it cannot be caused to move except by'a passenger standing on the platform of the car withinthe wellconditions and limitations which are ideal in a lift of-t-hisitype.

VV-hat I claim as new is 1. In :an elevator'safety device, thecombination with a door at each -landing,a latch therefor, and a hook connected with the latch; of an element in the well having a hook, means for holding the hooks engaged when the door is closed and latched, means actuated mechanically when the car isopposite the landing for disengaging; said hooks, and means for permitting the manual disengagement 'of'th'e latch from its keeper when said hooks are disengaged;

2. Inan elevator safety device, the combination with a door at each landing, a

manual latch therefor, and a hook connected with the latch, of an element in the well having a hook, means for holding said hooks engaged when the door is clOSed and latched, and means actuated by the car when opposite the landing for disengaging said hooks.

3. In an elevator safety device, the combination with a door at 'each landing, its latch, and a latch bar having a handhold and a hook; of an element mounted in the well and normally engaging said hook to lock said bar, and means actuated by the car when opposite the landing to move said element out of engagement with said hook.

I. In an elevator safety device, the combination with a door at each landing, its

latch, and a vertically moving latch bar having a hook; of a cam hinged in position to be depressed automatically by the car when opposite the landing, a spring projecting the cam normally into the well, a lip extending rigidly from the cam, and a hook on the lip for engaging that on the bar when the cam is projected but disengaging it when the cam is depressed. V x

5. Claim lgplusz Means for permitting the manual lifting of the latch bar when said hooks are disengaged, thereby unlatching the doora 6. In an elevator safety device, the combination with a door at each landing, a manual latch on the door, mechanism for locking the latch closed, and means for throwing said mechanism out of action when the car is opposite the landing; of mechanism for locking the car opposite each landing, and means for throwing the last-named mechanism out of action by the closing of the door. a o

7. Claim 6 plus: Both said mechanisms being yieldingly projected intothe well, and a block on the car which engages the latchlocking mechanism and is engaged by the car-locking mechanism.

8. In an elevator safety device, the combination with a door at each landing, a latch thereon for engaging a keeper, an upright latch bar having a hook at its lower end, and a wear plate at the lower front corner of the door; of a door lock and a car look opposite the landing, a hook on the door lock for engaging that on said latch bar, a release lever on the car look forengagement by said wear plate when the door closes, and means on the car for disengaging said hooks when the car comes opposite the landing.

9. In an elevator safety device, the combination with a door at each landing, a latch thereon for engaging a keeper, an upright latch bar having a hook, and a wear plate on the door; of a cam plate hinged in the well wall at each landing and having a hook for engaging that on the latch bar, a U- shaped car look also hinged in the well wall at each landing and having a lever for engagement by said wear plate, and means for swinging said cam and car look normally into the path of the car.

10. Claim 9 plus: The means being yieldable, and a block on the car adapted to depress the cam plate and disengage said hooks and to be received between the fingers of the U-shapedcar lock' 11. Claim 9 plus: The means being yieldable, and a block on the car adapted to depress the cam plate and disengage said hooks and to be received between the fingers of the U-shaped car look, said cam plate and lock being concentrically hinged in and adapted to be housed within a recess in said wall.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

CHARLES H. MILLER. 

